NEWARK — Despite a call for airline passengers to opt-out of full-body scans the day before Thanksgiving, the Transportation Security Administration said 99 percent of holiday travelers nationwide opted in, and movement through security checkpoints was smooth throughout the holiday travel weekend.

“Airport screening over the holiday travel week went smoothly overall,” read a statement from Jim Fotenos, a TSA spokesman. “The opt-in rates for Advanced Imaging Technology over the long holiday weekend are consistent with what we've seen since this technology was deployed in 2007 — approximately 99 percent chose to be screened with AIT.”

A grassroots movement centered around the website, www.optoutday.com, had urged fliers to opt out of the optional scanners on Wednesday, Nov. 24, in a show of opposition to the intrusiveness of the full-body scans, which produce anatomically detailed digital images of passengers' bodies. The site labeled the event “a rousing success,” after TSA Administrator John Pistole was prompted to make repeated statements calling on the flying public not to opt out, focusing national media attention on the issue.

“The entire point of the campaign was to raise awareness of the issues of privacy and aviation safety at TSA checkpoints, with the ultimate goal of influencing policy – to ask the question ‘are we really doing this right?’” read a message on the site. “In that, the campaign was a success.”

Even so, judging from first-hand observation by The Star-Ledger and news organizations around the country, National Opt Out Day was a non-event in terms of actual passenger participation.

Leading up to Wednesday, security experts expressed doubt that many travelers would participate in the event, given that the alternative to being scanned is a combination of passing through a standard metal detector and an automatic enhanced pat-down, a procedure that has also drawn criticism for its intrusiveness.

For most travelers through Newark Liberty International Airport, however, the choice between a full-body scan and an aggressive pat-down was strictly academic. The half-dozen scanners now operational at Newark Liberty were largely idle during Opt Out Day -- and for much of the Thanksgiving holiday before and afterward -- depriving passengers of the opportunity to opt out even if they had wanted to.

The Air Transport Association, the main airline industry trade group, had projected that the number of people flying this Thanksgiving holiday season would be 3.5 percent higher than last year. The projected increase, combined with the recent implementation of scanning and pat-down procedures new to TSA screeners and the flying public alike, had raised concerns that airport terminals would be clogged over the holiday.

Officials discuss new airport security measuresSenator Robert Menendez talks about the need for new airport security measures, passenger Ifoema Anekwe does not like the idea of pat-downs and Newark Liberty International Airport general manager John Jacoby explains the changes at the airport's screening checkpoints.
Video by John O'Boyle

But aside from reports of some crowding at Newark’s Terminal C on Sunday night — Thanksgiving’s busiest travel day — Newark’s three terminals appeared calm and hardly crowded in the days surrounding the annual feast.

David Castelveter, a spokesman for the ATA, could not say for sure whether his group’s projection’s had been met, and that final passenger volumes for the month of November would not be known until January. But, Castelveter said airline did not report widespread cancellations or any drop-off in bookings just prior to the holiday, and he added, “We’re pretty confident that our projection will hold true.”

Mary Clark, a spokeswoman for Continental Airlines, Newark’s biggest carrier, said that its 300 flights per day in and out of the airport were 90-percent occupied on average.